NOISE:

Land and ocean dwellers feel the negative impacts of unnatural sounds from resource extraction and transportation industries. Explosions from oil and gas extraction and noise from large vessels can particularly affect underwater life as they rely on sounds for many daily functions.  Noise pollution results in Hearing damage or loss, Separation from family members, a Higher chance of ship strikes, Increase in cortisol levels

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TOXIC CHEMICALS:

The persistent organic pollutants (POPs) mercury and cadmium are a few of the many toxins found in orcas off the coasts of Canada.  The sources are abundant, “from military equipment, submarines, flame retardants, insecticides, dioxins and furans (byproducts of burning plastics, wood, fossil fuels.”  This results in changes to their endocrine and immune systems, weakening entire populations. In combination with noise pollution and overexploitation of salmon (a staple diet of the southern resident orcas), their numbers continue to plummet.

 

In agriculture, pesticides are used regularly throughout the farming regions of the country. What has been realized recently, is that “long-range transport of organic pollutants is an emerging issue in the north as well.”  In other words, communities not applying the chemicals will have their environments affected as well

Nutrient runoff is also a result of poor agriculture practices, contributing to harmful algal blooms in large bodies of water like Ontario’s Lake Erie.  These blooms will eventually result in dead zones: areas of the lake that can no longer sustain life due to low oxygen content. 

 

AIR POLLUTANTS:

Pollinator numbers are declining due to the vast number of air pollutants from transportation, waste disposal, agricultural activities, and home cooking emissions. Biodiversity patterns are also altered, with air pollution changing temperature and moisture levels.
Over 90% of humans live in areas with sub-par air quality,  which means pollinators do too.

Aquatic species are affected, including Atlantic salmon that rely on acid rain-free habitat. Birds like the common loon need pollution-free waters to reproduce successfully, and larger mammals like moose found in eastern Canada cannot get the nutrition they need from soil that is over-acidified.

 

LIGHT POLLUTION: 
Our lifestyles have lights on twenty-four hours of the day, except in the most remote of places. This is a problem for species like bats and owls, who rely on the darkness for both eating and reproduction. It is similar to our circadian rhythm being turned upside down, which we now know has detrimental effects on both our physical and mental health.

Migrating birds are negatively affected by bright lights that disorient their natural compass. It is also well known that artificial light at night disrupts breeding patterns in both amphibians and insects. When insects are confused, their pollinator capabilities change, and the diversity of plants is consequently affected. 

 

PLASTICS: 
Plastics are mistaken for food every day by a vast number of species. Birds are frequently found with bellies full of small bits of plastic.  As a result, they don’t have adequate nutrition which leads to a decrease in their numbers, both due to death and due to reproductive issues. Microplastics also begin to bioaccumulate within smaller species.  Microplastics are unfortunately great at absorbing heavy metals and POPs, which compound effects once ingested.

 

​Small pieces are not the only problem. Plastics not yet decomposed appear in waterways and on land around the world. In Canada, 3.3 million tonnes of plastic were discarded in 2016.  A mere 9% is recycled, and the “rest ends up in our landfills, waste-to-energy facilities, or the environment” (Government of Canada, n.d).